How Big Data will affect eCommerce Sites

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What is Big Data?

If you think Big Data is an oversized Star Trek character, then you’d be sadly mistaken this time. The Big data we are talking about is effectively a buzzword when it comes to online business management. Big data takes huge data sets and uses them to analyze then reveal patterns and trends in human behavior.

With the use of the internet growing exponentially in the last couple of years, Big data, or target marketing as it’s also known, has become a widely talked about subject. The irony is, if you were to talk about big data with a smart speaker or phone present, then you might fall victim to the coined term yourself…

Big Data

Big data has become a large part o how e-commerce stores find their next business steps. By learning how the average customer interacts with their business’ online, the business can tailor the experience and target a certain user, effectively manipulating them into purchasing a service or product. 

Being targeted by advertising online after viewing something similar or even talking about something similar is almost common practice in 2020. However, there’s nothing to worry about because you are still in complete control, right!?

The Digital Universe.

The digital universe is the collective name of how much data humans have accumulated since the dawn of the digital age, which was around 2002. Since then, it has expanded at a phenomenal rate. 

By the end of 2020, it is predicted that the digital universe will reach 40 zettabytes (ZB) which is 40 trillion gigabytes (GB) of data. That’s 5,200 GB of data for every human on Earth! Users are estimated to produce 1.7 megabytes (MB) of new information every second, so expect this universe’s growth to expand much more in the coming years.

How to use big data in e-commerce stores?

How to use Big Data in eCommerce stores?

There is no foolproof way to how you can use big data to benefit your e-commerce store. However, saying that, it’s not how you use it, but knowing where to pull your data from to create the best results. It would be best if you researched using multiple sources when it comes to seeing your data. Sources such as email and social media campaigns and using an analytic system to measure traffic to your website. 

You’ll eventually start to see patterns emerge from the differences in times users are on your website to the type of product they are most interested in. You can then use this information to create better, well-informed campaigns, creating more traffic to your eCommerce store and ultimately more revenue.

Why should you use Big Data?

Big data doesn’t come without its issues. The Cambridge Analytica scandal saw huge amounts of data collected from Facebook users without their knowledge to go on then and influence the 2016 presidential election. 

In the wake of this news, May 2018 saw GPDR come into force. GPDR is the General Data Protection Regulation, the core of Europe’s digital privacy legislation. This now means it is illegal to use a single person’s data without their permission. 

However, Big data is not only confined to big retailers. It is available to everyone, and when used correctly, it can give your business a presence in the global market. 

Here are the benefits of using Big data in e-commerce:

  • It gives you the edge to make better strategic decisions
  • You’ll get a better understanding of customers
  • You can improve shopper analysis
  • Used correctly, you will be able to manage costs
  • You’ll find seasonal trends and patterns in customer behavior 
  • You’ll have more insights to plan for the future

Make it personal

Giving your eCommerce store a personalized experience is paramount to your business’ success in this modern era. Gone are the days when you looked at the competitor’s pricing and tried your best to compete with them. Using machine learning, reading analytics, and keeping up with trends and patterns when analyzing customer activity on your website, you can personalize their next experience. Even when they think they have finished. 

With the information a user gives to you whilst visiting and shopping on your site, you can then send them personalized emails targeted at specific shopping recommendations, develop a strategic new pricing range that fits their needs to entice them back with offers and deals. By following these techniques and other best SMS marketing practices, you can present them with targeted ads once they have left your website, keeping them in the know about new products and services you are certain they will be interested in. 

Amazon Marketplace is the top dog when it comes to these practices and proves that, when done well, your eCommerce store will benefit more than you can ever imagine.

Prepare for the data future.

Taking advantage of Big data will improve the way your eCommerce store works and thrives, benefitting the future of your business. Getting started in the world of Big data doesn’t have to be a hard task. Workstations specifying in Deep learning can help your business take the first steps in using big data through training up to the development stages.

With practice and time, a great strategy and advice, and the right equipment available to you, you’ll learn how to take advantage of Big data whilst Big data learns how to take advantage of you…


Tom Hughes is from the south of England and is a Social Media and eCommerce specialist. When he’s not attempting to curate sharable content or write the perfect pun, you’ll find him writing the odd blog post from time to time.

How Big Data will affect eCommerce Sites

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